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Nocturnes:

On occasion when explaining, or at least attempting to, the genesis for
my body of work and it’s aesthetic I’ve mumbled something about being
like Emily Dickenson with a camera. For over a decade I shot work and
filed it away never to be seen completely by choice. I was far too
focused on my career as a filmmaker and director than to shift back into
my foundation level mindset as a visual artist. In the dark recesses of
my brain, twitching in its neuropathways however was always the
ever-growing body of work. The shutter was like a sword through a
hydra’s neck. More and more it became clear to though around me that I
had to show some of these works. So I slowly began to share work.
Encouragement from the likes of Holly Andres and Bruce La Bruce helped
certainly and I owe them both (among others) many thanks.
Mixing erotica, surrealism, and horror seemed only natural as the last
great taboo in contemporary art seems to be the male nude, the once
heralded subject of classical sculpture. My own aesthetic is something
of a half remembered dream, evocative hopefully more than provocative. I
strive to represent the forms not to shock the viewer but simply as a
part of the tableaux. The aesthetic has been called “existential dread
with hard-ons” and for my film work the press branded me “An Art Porn
Auteur”, which while catchy is not all-encompassing. Certainly sexual
expression is a part of my subject matter but I also am exploring themes
of origin, personal mythology, fear, shame and the darkness we
sometimes choose to ignore within ourselves. As an artist from a
culturally mixed heritage (Hebrew and Inuit) storytelling is a key
element to whatever project I engage in. Trying to connect the threads
of disparate histories into a new narrative, however surreal it comes
filtered through. The photos collected here represent fragments of
stories still unfolding and hopefully will ask the viewer to fill in the
gaps themselves. Nocturnes represents a bit of cherry picking,
images culled from 2010-2013 from a variety of series from my recent
catalog. Some were shot in tandem with accompanying video art
installations such as the images from the Transformation series as well
as Veiled [which came with the creation of the film I am Not Myself
Today (2010)], others were strictly photo works such as Jeremy [from the
Basement Series] Mythical Beasts/Domesticated Animals began their life
on off days while shooting a feature film Spark across Europe.